Branding Gemma [Grizzly Pines 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (9 page)

“I may take you up on your offer. I like being around you, too, Elodie, but I think it’s time I stood on my own two feet. Maybe the diner is hiring.”

“No! Work anywhere but the diner. Elliott is a monster. If you had to work for him, you’d probably go to jail for murder your first week there. I have no idea how I put up with him for so long, except that I was desperate.”

Gemma laughed. “Okay, no diner. There has to be someone hiring around town.”

“Your best bet is to look at the town paper. Beau gets one at home. I know he won’t mind you going through the classifieds. Don’t get your hopes up on there being a lot posted though. With it being such a small town, there are probably only a handful of jobs available. The supermarket is almost always hiring and I’m sure the bar could use another waitress, but I know you don’t want to work there.”

“No.” Gemma shook her head. “I need to stay away from alcohol as much as possible. Ignoring the beer in the fridge is my limit right now. You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to sneak downstairs and get one.”

“The guys would let you have one, as long as you didn’t go crazy and go on a drinking binge. I don’t think it would hurt you to drink in moderation.”

“I don’t think I
can
drink in moderation. That’s the problem. One drink will turn into two will turn into three, and so on. Before you know it, I’ll be falling-down drunk and making bad choices again. I’d run off with the first loser that came along.”

Elodie nodded her head in understanding.

No, there was no alcohol in Gemma’s future. At least, not for a long while, and she was okay with that. It was part of the new and improved Gemma, the one who was getting her life on track. It was past time for her to look for a job and quit being a drain on her family financially, even if they hadn’t complained. She knew her cousins well enough to know they would let her stay with them indefinitely, no matter how much it cramped their style. Not that it seemed to slow them down when it came to loving their woman, but she knew it embarrassed Elodie a bit to know that she heard them making love.

First thing she was going to do when they got home was find a job!

Ryan stared at the door after Gemma and Elodie walked out. He’d never met a woman quite like Gemma before. She’d seemed hesitant around him, which was a refreshing change. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman turned him down. Usually they were throwing themselves at him, especially since he’d passed the Bar and begun practicing law. It seemed his salary and steady job drew the women like moths to a flame. None of them held his interest for long though. He wanted someone that wanted him for him and not for what he could do for them.

Something told him Gemma was such a woman, if he could crack that hard exterior. He’d wanted to ask her about her previous relationship. He couldn’t figure out if she’d loved the man so much she couldn’t even consider another relationship or if it had been so bad she was shying away from getting close to anyone else. Either way, he obviously had his work cut out for him if he planned to date her, and he definitely wanted to date her.

He’d never felt an instant attraction to a woman before. He’d sensed her before he’d even seen her, as if he were being drawn to her side. There was no doubt in his mind that she was going to be someone special to him. He wanted more than just a quick fuck, which was usually all he cared for when it came to women.
Get laid and get them out
had always been his motto. Until now.

What he needed was his big brother’s advice. If anyone knew women better than him, it was Synclair. His brother had a different woman every night, sometimes more than one. Ryan had never seen the draw in taking more than one woman to your bed at a time. It wasn’t like you had more than one dick, so what the hell did you do with the second female? No, he was definitely a one-woman kind of guy, and he figured that, one day, Synclair would be, too. When his brother fell, he was going to fall hard and fast. Ryan just hoped he was around to witness the occasion.

He closed up shop, putting his
Out to Lunch
sign in the window and walked the three blocks to Skin to Skin, his brother’s tattoo shop. They couldn’t be more different, even if they did look similar, once you got past the suit and tie Ryan usually wore, compared to his brother’s ripped jeans and muscle shirts. Ryan hadn’t told Synclair yet, but he’d been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo. He’d earned the nickname lion since becoming a lawyer, mostly because of the trial cases he’d taken on in San Antonio when he’d first started out. They said he was fierce and he never lost a case. He’d been playing with the idea of getting a lion in the jungle on his back, the jungle representing the battles he’d fought to get where he was today.

Their childhood had been less than ideal, with both of their parents hooked on drugs. There had been plenty of times when they’d gone without food, had worn secondhand clothes, had even gone without electricity and hot water. Not that they’d ever told a soul what was going on at home, but he’d seen the looks in his teachers’ eyes. They’d known and just hadn’t done anything about it. It wasn’t that Ryan wished he’d gone into the system, but sometimes he wondered if they wouldn’t have been better off. Maybe that’s part of the reason he and his brother had never given Elodie Mitchell a hard time. They’d known of her, even if she was older than both of them, but they’d understood her situation more than most.

His brother had been artistic from an early age and had gotten an apprenticeship at a tattoo shop two towns over when he was fresh out of high school. Within a year, he was licensed and took out a loan to start his own shop here in town. Business had been slow at first and they’d had no choice but to remain in their parents’ home, but once things picked up, Synclair had gotten him out of there. He’d helped him get through the rest of high school and had made sure he went to college, wanting Ryan to have more options.

The shop came into view and he shook the memories from his mind. When he stepped inside, the bell over the door jingled and his brother looked up from the front desk. He knew Synclair had placed an ad in the local paper a few weeks ago for a front desk assistant, someone to not only answer phones but greet customers and book appointments as well. So far, no one had answered the ad. He hadn’t had so much as one nibble.

Synclair looked at the clock on the wall. “What are you doing here so early? It’s barely eleven.”

“I can’t take an early lunch to visit my big brother?”

“It isn’t like you won’t see me at home.”

“Yeah, at one in the morning. I think I’ll be asleep by then. Unlike you, some of us have to be at work by eight o’clock.”

Synclair shrugged. “I’ve been trying to get some help in here, but it hasn’t been easy. If I had an assistant, I could let them open the shop for an hour in the mornings just to set up appointments for the day, then come in at noon. If I could get lucky enough to hire another artist, I could even take some days off.”

“Now there’s a novel idea. Why haven’t you done that yet? I know business is going well. Your shop is so well-known, you have people driving in from San Antonio to have work done.”

“I guess I’m just too picky about who I hire. This shop is my baby and hiring the wrong artist could spell failure for me, big time. I have an image to uphold.”

Ryan could see the logic behind that. He knew his brother needed a break though. He’d been working six days a week, thirteen hours a day for quite a while now. He didn’t see how Synclair had managed it without burning out, but his brother just kept on going.

“I actually did have a reason for stopping by,” Ryan admitted. “I met a woman today.”

Synclair lifted a brow. “And this is different from any other day
how
exactly?”

“She’s different, Synclair. She isn’t a one-night stand woman, but the kind you date and get to know… maybe even marry.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You just met this woman and you’re talking marriage already? What, does she have three tits or something? A second pussy?”

“Quit being crude. I can’t explain it but I just know that she’s special. You should have seen the look in her eyes. She’s vulnerable right now, but she’d never admit it. There’s a fighting spirit inside of her, which is good. It means she won’t take any of my shit and will make me toe the line. If I cheated on her, she’d castrate me, I have no doubt of that.”

“So ask her out.”

“I did. She turned me down.”

Synclair laughed. “So you finally find a woman you want long-term and she freezes you out? Awesome. Wish I’d been there to see it.”

“This is serious! How do I get her to accept a date with me?”

Synclair rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve never really had to work for it before. If I had to guess, I’d say you need to romance her, show her that you’re serious about wanting to pursue her. Do something that shows her you aren’t in it just for the sex, but that you actually want to get to know her.”

“You’ve watched way too many daytime TV shows.”

“Hey, do you want my help or not?”

“Fine. I’ll romance her. I know where she’s staying. Maybe I’ll start by sending her flowers.”

Synclair nodded. “That sounds like a good place to begin. Do you know someone who knows her? Someone that might be able to tell you more about her, help you get inside her head? If you know what you’re up against, it would help you out a lot.”

“Yeah, Elodie Mitchell. She’s staying with her.”

“That’s the woman dating three men, right?” There was a look in Synclair’s eyes that passed almost too quickly for Ryan to see. Synclair’s brow furrowed. “Think she’s into that ménage scene, too?”

Was it just him or did his brother sound almost hopeful? What the hell was going on? Wait. Synclair had mentioned meeting a woman a few weeks ago and he’d been acting different ever since. Really different. Surely it wasn’t the same woman! Ryan had never considered a ménage relationship before, but if that’s what Gemma needed to be happy, he would think about it, especially if the other man was his brother. It startled him to realize that he’d be willing to jump right into something like that, something he’d never even thought about before, and it made him believe that she really was special to him in some way. He wouldn’t scare her off by telling her that right away.

Synclair was right though. He needed to talk to Elodie. If anyone could help him with Gemma, it would be her. Why he didn’t think of that, he didn’t know. He wondered if she’d had time to get back home. He didn’t want to call on her cell and try to talk to her with Gemma sitting right beside her in the car.

Synclair smiled. “You’re getting that nervous energy about you. I know you want to go call about your woman. Get out of here.”

“Thanks, big brother. I really do think she could be the one. I don’t want to fuck this up before I even get started.”

A shadow crossed over Synclair’s face and Ryan couldn’t ignore it.

“She’s the one, isn’t she? The one you were talking about?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah. It was Gemma. I’m sure you’re more what she’s into anyway.”

“I’ve never known you to back down when you’ve wanted a woman. What’s going on, Syn? What aren’t you telling me?”

Synclair shrugged. “She knows where to find me, Ryan. If she was interested, don’t you think I’d have heard from her by now? It’s been weeks. Obviously, the attraction was one-sided.”

Ryan didn’t like to hear his brother sound so dejected. It wasn’t like Synclair at all. The man was known for his conquests, and maybe that was the problem. He’d finally found a woman he wanted as more than a one-night stand and he didn’t know how to go after her. That just meant Ryan would have to do the work for both of them, just as soon as he figured out how to go about it. He had a feeling if Gemma spent time with Syn, she’d see that he was a good guy. As far as Ryan knew, his brother hadn’t been intimate with anyone since meeting Gemma. Hell, he didn’t think Synclair had even been to the strip joint or the local watering hole. His brother was a changed man.

Ryan headed out into the sunshine and pulled out his cell phone. He still had Elodie’s number in his history from calling her about the paperwork. A glance at his watch told him that she should have had time to get back to the ranch by now and, hopefully, wasn’t standing right next to Gemma. He couldn’t very well ask her about the woman if she was beside her, not without giving everything away. He wanted to surprise Gemma with flowers or something she really wanted, whatever that might be.

He put the phone to his ear and waited for Elodie to answer. By the fourth ring, he was starting to wonder if she would. Just when he was about to hang up, she picked up the phone.

“Mr. Black, did I forget something at the office?” she asked.

He was momentarily startled that she knew who was calling, but then figured she must have programmed his number into her phone. Or just recognized it.

“I was actually calling to talk to you about Gemma, if that’s okay?”

“That’s perfectly fine. She’s out at the corral with Beck right now, so this conversation is private.”

“I’m sure you could tell that I was rather taken with Gemma. I’ve never felt that way about a woman I’ve just met, but there was something about her that called to me. And it seems I’m not the only one. My brother met her a few weeks ago and hasn’t been the same ever since.”